DICKENS ON THE STRAND

Galveston Island, Texas

This is Dickens on the Strand weekend in Galveston (December 3-4, 2011). It is a time when the locals get to pretend to be English. Go figure! They fought the English in the 1770's for independence and now they like to dress up and try to talk like them. It was far from English Christmas weather. Today was a lovely 73 degrees F (23 degrees C.) but that did make it all the nicer to stand and watch the Queen's Parade.

My favorite parade music is the pipe bands.

Not the Queen but maybe she is royal.

A walking Christmas tree.

Our friends, Katie and Chris, are members of a Scandinavian dance group and for many years the group have sold Glögg (mulled red wine) from this little stall. It is not a hardship to go down and help support them by purchasing a wine or two ....

Go back in time, to the time of Dickens. Some of the dresses are quite pretty and others well .... some look like Dance Hall girls.

The chimney sweeps would have little work to do here in Texas - the home of air conditioning.

I could not believe the mess of electric wires along this back alley. This is hurricane country, so why are the wires all overhead and not buried? Amazing!

In the storm surge of Hurricane Ike the sea water was above the first floor level. Where the Queen's Parade was held on The Strand nothing survived on the first floor of every building. It was heartbreaking to see the debris on the streets when we visited Galveston in the weeks after the hurricane. Houstonians were encouraged to go to Galveston to spend money and help with the economy, we did our best. Galveston is coming back, slowly, but Texans (like those of SW Louisiana, eh Dawn) are a strong folk and get stuck into doing for themselves and not relying on government aid.

Native American POW WOW

Traders Village - Houston, TX
The Native American Pow Wow at Traders Village is being held this weekend. We went today and watched the dance competitions.

There is a significant amount of work that goes into the making and putting together of each costume.  As you can see they are very colorful and of course each costume has a specific meaning.

The organizers started the Tribal Dance competition with the toddlers (2-4 year olds). The toddler dancers were so good that a winner could not be chosen and all were given First Place :) The drums are moving to hear with the 1,  2, rhythmic beat and a couple of haunting tunes were played by a flute player from Okhaloma.

Houston, Texas

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON

Tutankhamun Exposition - The Golden King

Hey there's a yellow arrow ....

Anubis stands on guard outside the museum.

Photography is not allowed at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston so this is it!

HOWEVER ...... 
In 2000 Garry, Stephen and I went to Egypt for an NSF MARGINS workshop and geological field trip (Sinai). In Cairo we visited the Egyptian Museum and we were in awe viewing the museum's wonderful collections. The Tutankhamun collection in Cairo is huge, the items displayed are breathtaking, and photography is allowed (or was in 2000). My photographs are shown below and do not do the pieces justice. At MFA, H today I was disappointed with the small number of items on display but the presentation of those pieces is excellent. If you have not visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo or the Egyptian collection at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET) then you should visit this Tutankhamun exhibit.

Just so you know: I realize how fortunate I am to have the luxury of travel and to have lived in the New York area for twenty-five years. I am very grateful for the travel opportunities that I have enjoyed all my life.

Beautiful .... absolutely beautiful. Look at the exquisite face and royal beard (first photo) and the engravings on the back plate (second photo). Even today looking at these photographs I am still in awe of this death mask. I remember standing and looking at this mask for a long long time ... I was mesmerized and I did not want to leave.

This stands about a meter tall ... I just love it. Ladies can you imagine the conversation taking place ..... they have been cramped here for thousands of years and will be for eternity.

These animals are taller than life size .... I love the gappy teeth

These are adult size statues ....

.... and these are doll size.

Are there boomerangs in this lot? Sure looks like it to me. All the above items were meant to accompany Tutankhamun on his journey in the afterlife.

HOUSTON, Texas
A few scenes below from Houston, taken as we drove a French guest around town. The fountain in the Museum District and the buildings of Downtown (which is a dead place on the weekends).

HOUSTON ZOO BOO

It is Halloween at Houston Zoo and our Barbie Mariposa Fairy is coloring-in the animal poster.

Charlotte selected a pumpkin to decorate taking her time coloring each segment a different color, it was very pretty when finished.

A drive through the canyons

ROADRUNNER
I started the day off by chasing a roadrunner around the parking lot for a photograph.  Got it!

ON THE WAY TO THE CANYON
It was a nail biting drive to Titus Canyon the scenery was more spectacular with each bend in the road. The day was bright, warm and sunny just like all the days in DVNP.

This is the road and the road keeps going up, it hairpins around the mountain in the distance. We must cross this range and a few others before arriving at Titus Canyon.

Garry wanted this shot it is apparently interesting geology, I think it looks a mess, maybe that is why Garry wanted the geology shot.

Up and over one range now to cross another.

The rocks change color with each bend  in the road.


LEADFIELD GHOST TOWN

TITUS CANYON
We enter Titus Canyon which was about a three hour round trip from Furnace Creek Ranch. The road to the canyon is only suitable for 4WD, AWD or high clearance SUV's, we have rented an SUV. Once we turned off the main road onto the dirt track crossing the alluvial fan the road was rocky and bumpy.  The road goes up, up, up, around, and over the mountains behind the canyon.  It is a ONE WAY road which alleviated some fear but the steep drop up or down on the tight curves caused me to hold my breath.  In the canyon the views are breathtaking at times the canyon walls are only twenty feet apart.  The rocks are a mess, they are twisted in all directions but that makes them interesting to look at. The photographs show you the canyon and Petroglyphs along the way .....

We saw some yesterday and again today, quail.

SALT LAKE
We stopped at Salt Lake to see the Pup Fish and walked along the boardwalk over the Saltgrass to the lake.  Something was biting me and it was extremely hot.  A European couple were coming back from the walk so I asked if they saw any Pup Fish and they said, "no, it is all dried up".  So we turned around and continued on our travels.

MUSTARD CANYON
The drive through Mustard Canyon is short, only about ten minutes, but it is very pretty and the rocks are indeed a mustard color.

BORAX MUSEUM - FURNACE CREEK RANCH
On display at the Borax Museum is the equipment used for borax mining and transportation.

Where's the water? One bonus, at 178 feet below sea level is that we did not get altitude sickness, no huffing and puffing to go uphill.

Me, it is not the lowest point on the trip, but the the ranch is at 178 feet below sea level.

JOSHUA TREES
For a few miles along the highway between Furnace Creek, California and Las Vegas, Nevada there are Joshua Trees (Yucca brevifolia).